Shannon Airport emergency landing: 16 in hospital

wally79

Sixteen people have been injured after turbulence prompted a transatlantic flight to make an emergency landing in the Republic of Ireland.

Fourteen passengers and two crew members were taken to hospital from Shannon Airport at about 06:00 BST.

The United Airlines flight was travelling from Houston, Texas, to London Heathrow.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37228479

cowboyBuilder

Jesus!! .. scares the ****e outta me..

LXFlyer

Just reinforces the need to keep the seat belt fastened when sitting down - always amazes me the numbers of people who immediately unfasten once the seat belt sign is extinguished.

Neamhshuntasach

I never understand all the clicks as soon as the seat belt sign goes off. If sitting down and not moving to go the bathroom or whatever. Just loosen the belt. Same with people that are up moving about when the sign is on and there is some turbulence.

Wonder how far out from Ireland the turbulence happened.

Thoie

lxflyer wrote: »

Just reinforces the need to keep the seat belt fastened when sitting down - always amazes me the numbers of people who immediately unfasten once the seat belt sign is extinguished.

I always keep mine on while seated, but on a plane that size, 14 people moving around (to and from bathroom, quick stand up to get something from their bag) isn't very many.

Thoie

Neamhshuntasach wrote: »

I never understand all the clicks as soon as the seat belt sign goes off. If sitting down and not moving to go the bathroom or whatever. Just loosen the belt. Same with people that are up moving about when the sign is on and there is some turbulence.

Wonder how far out from Ireland the turbulence happened.

About 500km SW of Ireland according to Breaking News.

Henry Ford III

Sounds like a bad one.

cowboyBuilder

FlightRadar history

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ua880#ad8a992

Henry Ford III

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ua880#ad8a992

Looks like it fell a good bit. ATC in Shannon were advised of the diversion at 3.20am apparently.

martinsvi

Henry Ford III wrote: »

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ua880#ad8a992

Looks like it fell a good bit. .

how are you making that conclusion?

anyway, looking back at the sigmet charts, the jetstream at FL340 are bang on their way. Earlier that night CAT forecasted from levels 270 to 400

Question to jet pilots here - when your route is crossing a forecast 100kt jet stream and you are expected to leave it on the polar air side, would you not put your seatbelt sign on?

00Z:



06Z:

MoeJay

Well probably is the short answer...!

But as the charts show it was dissipating by 6z (or forecast to) so depending on when you arrive you might wait to to see...?

On the tracks people are reporting turbulence back and forward to each other so you usually have a good idea what's ahead. But sometimes you'll get a chart like that and not get more than a ripple, and other times there'll be no CAT forecast and it'll be bumpy all the way...

A rapid change in temperature at your planned cruise level on your track is usually a good indicator, similarly a large change in tropopause height.

Nav Canada produce their own transatlantic turbulence charts that can also give a different picture as to how they see the turbulence shaping up.

duskyjoe

martinsvi wrote: »

Question to jet pilots here - when your route is crossing a forecast 100kt jet stream and you are expected to leave it on the polar air side, would you not put your seatbelt sign on?

In my world yes.

Turbulence reports pilots rely on very much via reports from other aircraft on a dedicated ocean "chit chat" frequency?... sig weather chart didn't depict forecast turbulence between the two jet streams and only in area 3 where it was forecast mod/sev upto FL340. I presume the incident happened between the two jet streams?

In my experience the most frustrating thing is when the seat belt sign is on, people continue to wander about the cabin without scant regard. Passengers are becoming also more aggressive/nonchalant towards-cabin crew when asked to take their seats.

In regard to the seat belt sign on or off, my strongest advise is always have your seat belt on. If I had my way, I'd also ban hot drinks......people scald themselves even with the tiniest of jolts. Just sayin.

Hopefully the injuries sustained are not too serious and those involved can continue their onward journeys. Aviation remains the safest form of travel IMO.

DeiseMan4

Fingers crossed one of the passengers took a video + turbulence can't take a plane down. It's built to flex and resist. Wear your seatbelts kids!!!

CardinalJ

Theres a line in the BBC report where a passenger claims they were told to leave their seats and sit on the floor, after the incident.

Can anyone explain this to me?

DeiseMan4

CardinalJ wrote: »

Theres a line in the BBC report where a passenger claims they were told to leave their seats and sit on the floor, after the incident.

Can anyone explain this to me?

I read that too but it's utter nonsense. The reason why these people were injured is because they didn't wear any seatbelts; it would make 0 sense for them to sit on the floor + brake aviation rules. This is some sloth looking for his 15 minutes in the spotlight

Thoie

CardinalJ wrote: »

Theres a line in the BBC report where a passenger claims they were told to leave their seats and sit on the floor, after the incident.

Can anyone explain this to me?

The only _vague_ reason I could think of was if every single seat everywhere was full, and the crew were trying to access someone injured sitting by the window, but even then surely a jump seat would be free to sit in short term, rather than the floor.

DeiseMan4

Thoie wrote: »

The only _vague_ reason I could think of was if every single seat everywhere was full, and the crew were trying to access someone injured sitting by the window, but even then surely a jump seat would be free to sit in short term, rather than the floor.

The crew were mainly the people injured barring the pilots as they did not have their seatbelts on when the unexpected turbulence hit. Also you're 100% the crew could have given their jump seats and would never ask someone to move during turbulence

CardinalJ

Yea i just dont get it. Could over head lockers have maybe come down? Is that all a bit hollywood?

DeiseMan4

CardinalJ wrote: »

Yea i just dont get it. Could over head lockers have maybe come down? Is that all a bit hollywood?

What they said happened was in the normal clear flight path they came across an unexpected patch of turbulence. This meant that the crew and many passengers were not strapped in as the sign was off and could have been walking around, queuing or sitting without a seatbelt (they always recommend you keep it on throughout at the start of each flight). So when this happened everyone standing got battered around. The overhead luggage compartments are designed not to open but if they were not secured properly (like when they check each one at take-off) luggage could have fallen. All-in-all a scary event but not a life threatening one.

DeiseMan4

CardinalJ wrote: »

Yea i just dont get it. Could over head lockers have maybe come down? Is that all a bit hollywood?

youtube.com /watch?v=7UO-wYpNN0s

something like this without the seatbelts

martinsvi

DeiseMan4 wrote: »

youtube.com /watch?v=7UO-wYpNN0s

something like this without the seatbelts

that video is a bit of a hoax, I'm sure there was a slight roughness there in parts, as you can hear seldom rattling noises and what not, but not at that extent - guy is just dramatizing the footage by shaking his camera, but for the most parts people around him are fairly relaxed.

When you get into proper CAT, as probably did this morning's flight, stuff flies around in zero gravity and people scream their guts out

RebelButtMunch

martinsvi wrote: »

that video is a bit of a hoax, I'm sure there was a slight roughness there in parts, as you can hear seldom rattling noises and what not, but not at that extent - guy is just dramatizing the footage by shaking his camera, but for the most parts people around him are fairly relaxed.

When you get into proper CAT, as probably did this morning's flight, stuff flies around in zero gravity and people scream their guts out

Yep, in that video you can see people with drinks still on their table.